Assembled bombs and munitions. Sewed parachutes and uniforms and trended wounded troops. One time i worked seven weeks, seven days without a day off. It makes you proud. They were the wives or the sisters of men who were serving. And one of the women i spoke to, she was a riveter. And she said when she was riveting that plane, she was thinking of her brother, and she was thinking, if i dont get this rivet right, just right, he could die. More than just a job. Right. It was an inadvertent resolution. What is it that causes women to suddenly be brought into the armed forces like they were . We couldnt get enough people to go into the armed services. We needed more people. General wilma vaught, the 28 year veteran of the u. S. Air force and one of the most highly decorated military women in United States history. When she retired in 1985, vaught was only one of seven female generals in our armed forces. There is no question in my mind that i owe my career to the women in world war ii. Who makes the decision, were going to have to bring in a bunch of women into the armed forces . It was general george marshal. He recognized, before we were in the war, that there was going to be this need and directed the army staff to get legislation prepared to go over to the congress to get authority to bring women in. There were two women who played a very prominent role. And that was Margaret Chase smith who later became the senator from maine. And the other was edith north rogers from lowell, massachusetts. The bill that was introduced evoked fierce opposition. One congressman asked whats become of the man hood of america and called women in the military revolting. But fdr signed the bill, giving women a place in the army. They wouldnt be an official part of it until a year later. Whats the difference between the original army intent of a wells Army Auxiliary corps and what becomes the womens army corps. They werent an official part of the army. Even though they had army uniforms, they were trained in the army. They were at an army base, they were an auxiliary. It didnt work. They went to the womens army corps, which was just like any other corps in the military. The woman in charge of the womens army corps. They called them wacs. When they first arrived the colonel said you have a date and a debt, a date with democracy and a. I felt a little patriotic. My older brother had a family and my youngest brother was 4f. I said to my mother, i think im going to join. Let me take the place of the boys in the service. So thats what i did. 23yearold victoria from allentown, pennsylvania was the daughter of polish immigrants. Shed only left home once to visit relatives in connecticut. That all changed. First she had to make it through boot camp. Overseas training was fairly tough. We went on fullpack hikes. And when the officer would bloat whistle we had to lay down on the grass and crawl just like the boys did. You had gas mask drills. Yes. Oh, that was my hardest part of the whole service, and we had to go through this gas chamber. I was terrified that my mask went on right. And i said, is mine on tight enough . Did your gas mask fit . It worked. I came out alive. This wac, along with 55 others was sent to the pacific. Her assignment, working at signal Corps Headquarters in the hot jungles of new guinea. We wore baggy shirts and baggy pants. We had to be covered up all the time because of the mosquitos. They called us minis. They always had the natives do all the work around there. She soon found out they had a fondness for light hair. My hair was strawberry blond. This captain said we have to change you. He was afraid this native would cut my hair off or something. Did a lot of the wacs date the soldiers out there. Oh, i guess quite a few did. How long before your husband to be asked you on one of those dates . We went to the movies there. Sat on the grass in the movies. Did you hold hands . Yeah. Sure we did. His name was dan, an army sergeant, also from allentown, pennsylvania. Victoria had traveled halfway around the world to meet and marry the boy next door. Where did you go on your honeymoon . Nowhere. We were both tired of traveling. We were glad to be home. During the war, only one branch of the military accepted black women from the start. The womens army corps. Were women in the military segregated the same way men were . It was a jim crow army. The female africanamericans who served were segregated out into their own units. World war two became a real opportunity for africanamericans and women in particular. They said hitler is the one that got us out of white womens kitchens. All the blacks are lined up behind each other. All the whites are lined up behind each other. 27 year old Martha Putney had an insatiable quest for knowledge. Shed already received her masters degree in history. I went down to the recruiting station myself, put in the application and told them all i would be unwilling to go unless i was guaranteed an opportunity with officer training school. They said sit down, take the test. Martha passed with flying colors and was commissioned on 7 july 1943. Two weeks later she got her first assignment. I was assigned to a basic Training Company as a supply offic officer. Theres nothing more basic than provisioning a k make sure they have proper sized shoes. Make sure their uniform fits. At that time our nation like our military was segregated. But martha and her fellow recruits wouldnt have it and took matters into their own hands. We went to mess every day in formation. Saturdays and sundays we had no formation. We went on our own. One of the recruits said lets start something. Lets sit where we want to sit. So thats what they did. Officers found out, and they didnt tell us anything otherwise. So in short order, the mess hall at ft. Des moines on saturday and sundays were desegregation days. The army learned a valuable lesson from women like Martha Putney and the feeling was mutual. I also learned a lot from the army, the army way of doing things. And learned respect for every human being. A courageous wac saves her plane when it flips upside down plane when it flips upside down and out of control. My business was going nowhere. So i built this kickin new website with godaddy. Building a website in under an hour is easy 68 of people. Who have built their website using gocentral, did it in. Under an hour, and you can too. Type in your business or idea. Pick your favourite design. Personalize it with beautiful images. And. Youre done and now business is booming. Harriet, its a double stitch not a cross stitch build a better website in under an hour. Free to try. No credit card required. Gocentral from godaddy. Music you fill up my senses like a sleepy blue ocean you fill up my senses come fill me again the Army Air Corps was the only brachx in the military during world war ii that didnt officially accept women into its ranks. But with a shortage of male pilots, they contracted civilian females at 250 a month to ferry planes from manufacturers to military bases around the country. Wasp stood for womens air force Service Pilots, formed in august of 43, womens flying training detachment. Legendary airman cochran would lead the way. She clearly was the moving force that caused the Women Air ForceService Pilot to come into being, and she lobbied forcefully for this thing, with general hap arnold. And it was a tough fight. Youre not really in the Army Air Corps, are they . No. They werent. They were sort of like the womens Army Auxiliary corps. Every day at lunch time id go out to the hangar and watch the planes as they came off the assembly line. 23yearold Lorraine Rogers from park ridge, illinois was fresh out of college when she landed her first job at douglas aircraft. This young man came up to me and said young lady, every day i see you looking at the planes. Do you fly . And i said no, but thats all i want to do. And he said, well, youre in luck. Im the chief test pilot. Lorraine trained at avenger field in sweet water, texas. We went through the same training as the men did. Identical. 1830 went through training. And 1,074 of us earned our wings. Toby felker was one of lorraines classmates. I was at the same base lorraine. 6th of september, 1943. She faced every pilots worst nightmare. All of a sudden the plane flipped upside down and went into an inverted spin. Now, no problem. I worked with everything that i had ever been taught and then some things that id never been taught, but nothing worked. I knew i had to get out. I really struggled, but did get it open. And out i went. And counted one, two, 10. And here is my original rip cord. I started to cry, because i looked over, and this wasnt from pain. I saw that plane crash, and i thought, ill never get to fly again. But she did. General hap arnold pinned our wings on us. And Jaclyn Cochran was there. Every day was great. It was the very, very best day, the day i got my silver wings. What was the best plane that you ever flew . Most fun . My biggest success was on a b25. I did a lot of copiloting on b17s and b24s. I flew every plane that we had in the inventory. They had 38 who were killed. And i flew some 60 million miles. After 18 months of fighting an uphill political battle, the wasps were disbanded. At the time, either this didnt matter, or you didnt know. We just didnt care. We wanted to fly. I was in d. C. As a government girl. Things got rather boring, and i told them, i saw an emblem that said free a man to fight. This woman from West Virginia was a free spirit who loved dancing and big band music. I came back to the War Department and said to this Army Lieutenant over my unit, i just joined the marine corps. And there was this other shock. I had no idea. They said you line up those boots, and i said oh, boy. They ran in a male g. I. And hed yell, you knuckleheads, right. But she made it through and was ordered to duty right there at camp lejeune, north carolina. I relieved a man on a mess hall truck, two and a halfton truck, i believe. And i would carry splice for the mess hall. Could you see over the Steering Wheel . Yes, barely. Youre not exactly the tallest person. Did you have an extra cushion . Oh, no. Getting in and out of the truck was a problem. Not only did she learn to drive a deuce and a half but managed to look good too. Elizabeth arden developed a month zuma red lipstick just for marines. It was supposed to match the wraparound our head and we wore red scarves, and it matched that. Youre great. Thank you. Youre a great representative of the women marine. Thank you, colonel, semper fi. In june of 42, as navy men pummeled the japanese at midway, state side women were heeding the call to serve as wavs. 42 year old Mildred Mcafee left her prestigious post at Wellesley College to take up the charge of leading the wavs. The navy nurses are now joined by this group of women who are glad to offer service. Ruth rothsburg was one of the 27,000 who joined. The boston native was the daughter of an army soldier and british mother. When they announced that they were establishing the wavs, i became interested. You were in the first class of the waves. Yes. What was college like in 1942 . It was a marvelous experience, being that we were the first ones there, they really werent prepared. Tell us what your Commanding Officer told everybody. He said seaman are seaman, whether they wear skirts or trousers, and they shall be treated as such. And in april of 44 after serving for a year she got her commission. She was now a Communications Officer at the first Naval District in boston. Normally a radioman has a security clearance. Oh, yes. This is the first time that i had to have a security clearance. Tell me what kind of message traffic you were working now that we can talk about it. It was the battle of the atlantic. We also had messages former chant ships that were in the area. Do you remember while you were there getting any messages or sending any messages about german wolf packs or. Yes. Convoys that got well, yes. Because first of know i know there are many people today that dont realize how slow sol of the uboats were. Did it make a difference to free a man to fight in world war ii . I was just very proud of being in the navy. I had something to do with the war and something about the coast guard seemed to be like a magnet drawing me in. It was the leastknown, and i wanted to be part of that. 22yearold new Yorker Dorothy dempsey joined the coast guard in 1944. Each service was called to come up with a name. And the coast guard had to come up with one as well. So they decided to use the semper paradis. Men may fight. The average woman in my generation never left home. And the area that i lived in, in new york, you either worked for macys, or you went to the new york telephone company. And you didnt do anything else. You just worked. Got married and that was it. But dorothy did leave home and become one of the 11,000 women who enlisted. It wasnt exactly what she expected. We werent ready for what we experienced at boot camp. We realized we didnt know the language. And i know when we asked where do we go, they said you take the second deck starboard and third billet. It was a big change for us. While stationed at boston, dorothy supervised 11 other women who worked on a topsecret aid to navigation that was just coming into use. The loran base was basically one room which they slept in, worked in. But every two minutes, a message from any ship or plane, and they could pick it up and could echo it back. And it was very important at that time in the war, and it helped a great deal. We wanted to help our country, and its the patriotic reason that we did it. More women at war just ahead on war stories. When you think of miami you think of,you know,rich,glamour but 5 miles away from the beach theres people who have never seen a beach. I was confused why somebody was in this situation especially in america. Music oooh,oooh,oooh so when i started joshuas Heart Foundation it was a key thing to be able to engage youth in the foundation. To help them participate. Music oooh,oooh,oooh i think passing on the torch and lighting a new flame in another person to do good is probably the point of the Bigger Missions i have. Music aha,aha,aha so we are each making a bigger difference. Music oooh,oooh,oooh thats it just giving back and producing love for everybody. Narrator evashe quit and now theresks oa new lung Cancer Screening that could save her life. You stopped smoking. Now start screening. No matter how much you smoked, Early Detection could save you. Talk to your doctor or learn more at savedbythescan. Org within of the greatest compliments paid to the women of world war ii came from none other than albert speer. Years after ve day, he said you were wise to bring your women into the military and labor force. Had we done that, as you did, it could well have affected the whole course of the war. Maybe, but these were american women, and they forged a new future for their daughters and granddaughters. Today pour than 400,000 are serving at home and overseas in the war on terror. 35 have made the ultimate sacrifice. For those women who served then and those who serve today, theirs is a wash story that deserves to be told. Im oliver north, goodnight. Tonight on war stories how do you spend people to war and then pull the rug out from under them . The rules of engagement made a dangerous job deadly. It was a frustrating thing. We knew we had to fight within these rules of engagement. Still in the skies over vietnam, they did their duty. It was like a football game. Send me in, coach. Im ready. Operation rolling thunder, thats coming up on war stories. The men who flew